Six people are charged with the December death of a Springfield man. Police say it was a complicated plot to kill 63-year-old Stephen Rash, involving murder for hire.

Police say they’ve worked murder-for-hire cases in the past, but not one with this many charges. Theresa Rash, Stephen’s wife, is charged with first degree murder. So are Alexandrea McNeeley, Teresa’s daughter, Rusty Amoss, William Reed, Jeff Bloom and Troy Christiansen.

Police say it all started with a meeting, leading to Stephen’s death and one man trying to collect on his payout.

On December 6, police responded to a home on West Chicago in Springfield.

“Once they arrived, they did confirm the individual dead was Stephen Rash,” said Major Kevin Routh with the Springfield Police Department.

The plot to kill Rash was actually hatched more than a week before his death. It’s at a home on North Summit where police say all of the six people charged met and discussed getting Rash out of the picture.

“Due to the complexity and number of individuals involved, it took quite some time to weed through the stories that were accurate and some were misleading,” said Major Routh.

According to court documents, Stephen’s wife Teresa and Jeff Bloom were trying to recruit people to kill Stephen Rash. Documents show Rusty Amoss confessed to killing rash on December 5. He told police he, along with Reed, went to the residence on West Chicago and ended up slitting Stephen’s throat.

Documents show that at the original meeting it was determined the bowling alley would be an alibi for the rest of those involved in the plot. Documents also show after it was done, Amoss contacted Teresa Rash and others a number of times requesting his payout.

“What we’ve charged all these people with is first degree murder. Two are charged as the primary actors, Reed and Amoss are being charged with committing the homicide the other four are charged as accessories,” said Darrell Moore, Greene County Prosecuting Attorney.

And for those like Carol Lewis living just a few doors down from the home of this horrible homicide, the news of the plot, while surprising, adds a little relief knowing it may not have been a random act.

Police say this group had a list of names of who it wanted killed. Police won’t say who, but that no other crimes relating to this incident have been committed. Police also wouldn’t say much about a motive.

The court documents do say that at that meeting on summit street it was discussed that a number of people didn’t like the way Stephen Rash was treating Teresa.